Improvement in switch for telephones



O. A. GHEEVER.

Switch for Telephones.

No. 208,463. Patented Oct. 1,1878. I

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wkmmsamsx N PETERS, PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON D C UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES A. OHEEVER, OF NEW YORK, N Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN SWITCH FOR TELEPHONES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 208,463, dated October 1, 1878; application filed August 23, 1878.

annunciator or equivalent signaling apparatus, in such a way that the operation of the telephone will automatically signal to a receiving-operator the fact of the operation of each telephone of a series, while at the same time the apparatus is conveniently arranged for the reception of such messages as may be transmitted by means of the telephone.

My apparatus is suitably designed to be used in hotels in which electrical annunciators are already in use, and to which this arrangement could be applied at a trifling expense.

My apparatus is so constructed that the raising of the telephone will automatically signal to the receiving-clerk the number of the telephone which is moved, and the receiving-clerk, having before him a number of switches numbered to correspond to the difierent rooms wherein the transmitting-telephones are located, can readily put himself in communication with the desired room or rooms by means of the operation or movement of the proper switch.

My invention will be readily understood from the drawing, in which T T T represent a series of suspended telephones. K represents a switch-board, through which the return-wires from the telephones pass. A represents the ordinary hotel -annunciator. B represents the battery, and It R represent a series of receiving-telephones.

The result which I desire to accomplish is that the raising of the telephone T shall automatically signal to the clerk the number of the room in which it is raised, and that then the clerk, by operating the proper switch, can immediately put himself into communication with the transmitting-telephone, at the same time cutting out the battery B from that portion of the line and leaving the remainder of the apparatus operative and ready to receive signals.

The apparatus is operated on what is known as the open-circuit principle--that is to say the batteryis onlyoccasionally operated,wherebythe battery is the longer preserved. The circuit of the battery in the ordinary condition of the line would be as follows: From the battery B through the wire a to the'annunciator A, through the wires .9 s 8 through the switchboard K, through the wires m m M, through the telephones T T T and ending in the spring-switches n n 02 which, when the weight of the telephones is on them, are lowered and pressed against the lower stops, and thereby break the battery circuit, since the lower stops are deadpoints. Following the circuit of the battery in the other direction, it passes through the wire I), through the wire 0, and ends at the back points 6 e e", which are ordinarily separated from the spring-switches a a 02 The switch-board K, as herein shown, consists of a series of spring-switches of the kind ordinarily known as plug-switches; but the plugs are peculiar in having one side dead or insulated, as will clearly be seen from the drawing.

Supposing the plugs to be removed from i the switches and the telephone '1 raised, as shown in the drawing, then it is obvious that the batterycircuit will be completed through the wire I) c e, spring-switch n telephone T wire m spring-switch S wire 8 annunciator A, wire a, and battery B. In this way the window of the annunciator corresponding to the room T will be dropped, disclosing its number, as is shown in the drawing. Then the clerk, knowing that the switch S corresponds with the room 3, inserts therein the plug P, as is shown in the drawing, and

thereby the circuit is completed through the telephone R, wire d, and wire 0, as previously. If, during the reception of the message from the telephone T another telephone be operated, the same result would ensue, and a sufficient number of telephones, R B, should be provided to receive the greatest number of messages which would be likely to be transmitted at the same time. These telephones have the common return-wire (I, as is clearly shown.

By means of this contrivance it will be only necessary for the guest to raise the telephone and speak his message, when the clerk, having been prepared by the raising of the telephone for the reception of the message, will be ready to receive the communication from the guest, and this is done automatically by the guest without necessitating the turning of any switch or the operation of any contri- Vance.

It is likewise plain that my invention need not be confined to a hotel, but would be equally applicable to any series of converging lines.

I do not claim the spring-switches n in combination with the telephone T alone, but only in combination with the switch-board and annunciator, as hereinafter claimed.

I do not claim the automatic switch n, the same being the invention of H. L. Roosevelt, for which he has made application for Letters Patent; neither do I claim the method of connecting said switchesdescribed in said application.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In combination with atransmitting-telephone, a receiving-telephone, a battery, and a signaling apparatus, a plug-switch having one side of the plug insulated, substantially as and for the purposes described.

2. The combination of the transmitting-telephones T, switch board K, annunciator A, battery B, and receiving-telephones R, whereby a less number of receiving-telephones is CHAS. A. OHEEVER.

Witnesses S. F. SULLIVAN, WM. J. SAWYER. 

